Collar-shaper.



No. 691,023. Patented lan. I4, |902.

A. J. UNDERHILL.

COLLAR SHAPER.

(Application filed Mar. 21, 1900.;

(No Modem 4 Sheets-Sheet` l,

A'. J. uNnEnHILL. COLLAR SHAPER.

(Application led Mar. 21, 1900.) (No Model.)

4`Sheets-Shem 2.

1H: Norms pawns w, PHOTQLWHU., mskmsou, n. c.

'No.` 69|,023. Patented lan. I4, |1902. A. J. UNDERHILL. COLLAR SHAPER.

(Application 'led Mar. 21, 1900.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Mpdel.)

A. J. UNDERHILL. COLLAR SHAPER.

(Application filed Mar. 21, 1900.)

Patented 1an. I4, |902.

(No Model.) 4 sheets-snaar Y4.

W4, bams@ e@ f me mums wenns co. wmounw., wAsmNcToN, u4 c.

-llivrrnn @raras Parana @trici-3..

ARTHUR J. UNDERI-IILL, OF TROY, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO OLUETT, PEABODY da OO., OF TROY, NEW YORK, A FIRM.

CDLLARHSHAPER.

SPECIFECATON forming part of Letters Patent No. 691,023, dated January 14, 1902.

Application filed March 21, 1900.

To @ZZ whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. UNDERHILL, a citizen of the United States,residing at Troy, county of Rensselaer, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Collar-Shapers, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to such im prove-` ments; and it consists of the novel construction and combination of parts'hereinafter described and subsequently claimed.

Reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, and the reference characters marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Similar characters refer to similar parts in the several figures.

Figure l of the drawings is a side elevation of my improved Shaper. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on the broken line 3 3 in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a plan View of a turn-down collar ironed out dat. Fig. 5 is a top edge view of the same after it has been folded and shaped by my improved shaper.

The object of my invention is to impart a circular form to a turn-down or folded collar after the same has been ironed out fiat and folded or partially folded by turning down the top part.

It is desirable that laundered collars should have a circular form adapted to approximately fit the neck of the wearer and that the fold which forms the upper edge of a turndown4 collar should not be broken and polygonal in form, but should be smooth and regularly curved approximately in the form of a true circle, as shown in Fig. 5. The difficulty of imparting such a curve to a folded turndown collar will be better understood when it is borne in mind that the band and top or turn-down part of the collar are cut and stitched together upon curved lines, forming a curved junction-seam, so that a turn-down top having its edge fold parallel with the curved edges and seam springs away from the band and affords room for a necktie to beinserted between the turned-down top and the band and improves the fit of the collar upon the neck of the wearer. The proper curvature can be imparted to standing collars by Serial No. 9,513. (No model.)

passing them between two or more rolls under pressure. Such mechanism is not adapted to curve a turn-down or folded collar such as I have described for the reason that the relative lengths of the innerand outer sides of the collar which are connected by the edge fold must be changed and permanently changed or fixed in order to properly curve the collar and make the curved form become the normal shape of the collar. I have ascertained that by passing a belt loosely over a cylindrical former, so as to partially inclose the same, and communicating uniform movements to the belt and the periphery of the former I can feed the folded collar, one end first, in between the former and belt, and thereby successively shape the inclosed portions of the collar and confine such portions between the belt and former during a brief intervahthe length of which depends upon the diameter of the former and the speed of the belt. lfthejunction-seam andadjoiningportion of the collar which is to be folded is dampened before it is inserted between the former and belt and the former is artificially heated, so as to dry out the moisture with which the parts are dampened, then the parts of the collar as they successively pass between the former and belt will not only have their relations to each other changed, but they will be fixed in their new relations and acquire a normal true curve, lthe outer side of the fold or turned-down part of the collar having a longer radius than the inner side or band part. The manipulation of the collar both in feeding to the machine and in receiving the shaped collars therefrom is greatly facilitated by having the cylindrical former project to one side of the frame of the machine and by employing guide-pulleys to direct the belt around one side of the former and leave a free and clear opening on the opposite side. By means of an adjustable belt-tightener the pressure of the belt upon the fold in the turned-down collar can be adjusted in accordance with the thickness of the collar and to give the fold the desired breadth and afford a sustaining abutment for both sides of the fold, so that both sides will be kept smooth and free from breaks and wrinkles While the fold is curved and the two sides correspond- IOO j and pulleys, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

ingly changed in relative length, as before described.

Referring to the drawings, 1 is the main frame, which supports a plurality of parallel shafts and bars. The shaft 2 is rotary in suitable bearings in the frame, one of its projecting ends being provided with a fixed driving-pulley 3 and a loose pulley 4, adapted to receive a driving-belt, the other projecting end being provided with a drive-pulley 5, adapted to drive the shaper-belt 6. The hollow shaft 7 projects to one side of the frame, and its projecting-end constitutes a rotary cylindrical former 8 for imparting a circular form to the collars. The bars 9 and 10 are fixed in the frame and support on their projecting ends the guide-rolls 11 and 12. The bar 13, provided on its projecting end with a guide-roll 15, is movable transversely of its length toward and from the bar 9, a slideway 14 being provided in the frame near each end of the barin which the bar is moved and adj usted by means of the adj fisting-screws 16, rotary in the stationary cross-bar 17, and held against longitudinal movement therein by the shoulders 18 and the sleeves 19, secured upon the screw-stems by the pins 20. The adjustable bar is provided with screwthreaded apertures adapted to receive and fit the screws. The screw-stems are also provided with operating-handles 21. As the Shaper-belt must be kept clean, so it will not soil the laundered collar,it is preferably made of fabric, such as canvas,which can be washed or cleaned when necessary. Such a belt will stretch in use, and the adjustable bar and pulley 15 serve to take up the slack caused by stretching.

The drive-shaft 2 is provided with a gear 23, iixed thereon and adapted to mesh with the gear 24, rotary on the fixed cross-shaft 25. The latter gear meshes with the gear 26, rotary on the fixed cross-shaft 27, and gear 26 meshes with the gear 28, fixed on the shaft of the cylindrical former, whereby positive rotary movements are communicated to both the former and the drive-roll or pulley 5. The connecting-gears are preferably of such a size that the peripheral speed of the former 8 and drive-pulley 5 shall be the same.

The Shaper-belt 6 is placed upon the former The guide-pulleys 11 and 12 are preferably so placed relatively to the former as to cause the belt to engage more than half the peripheral surface of the former and leave a free open passage to and from the disengaged side of the former between the guide-rolls and those portions of the belt which connect such rolls with the former.

A gas-burner is employed to heat the hollow former and may be of any known form. I have shown a tube 30, closed at one end and having a series of lateral openings in that part of the pipe located within the former which emit the mixed gas and air to support the iiames 3l. This pipe enters the former through the hollow shaft 7 and connects with a supply-pipe. (Not shown.) It is also provided with the usual apparatus for mixing air with the gas, the supply of air being regulated by the stop-cock 32. The cock 33 regulates the supply of gas. The gas-pipe 30 passes through the ap'ertured bar 40, the ends of which are movable longitudinally and horizontally in the apertured supporting-studs 41, which project horizontally from frame 1, as shown in Fig. 2. By sliding the bar lengthwise the apertured end of the gas-pipe which is located in the tubular former can be moved into closer proximity to the tubular wall of the former to increase the heating effect upon the former.4 The movements of the bar change the position of the gas-burner relatively to the axial line of the former. held in any adjusted position by means of the set-screws 42 in the ends of the supporting-studs. The gas pipe can also be slid lengthwise in its containing-aperture in the bar and held in any adjusted position therein by the set-screw 43.

The operation of the device is as follows: A collar 36 having been ironed out flat, as shown in Fig. 4, the seam 35 dampened, and the top part folded by hand as near the seamline as practicable, one end of the handfolded collar is inserted by the operator through the open space between the guiderolls 11 and 12 and between the feeding-in or lower side of the former and the shaper-belt. The collar is then fed along by the former and belt continuously, the inserted end passing up around the former and emerging from between the belt and former on the upper side of the latter, where it is grasped by the operator and drawn laterally out from between the belt .and former, so that the collar assumes a spiral form, and the outgoing portion of the collar will pass by the ingoing portion, substantially as shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The entire length of the fold is thus passed between the former and belt and the folded collar discharged from the machine without straightening out the circular coil made by the Shaper-belt and former. The former being maintained in a heated condition by the interior burner dries and fixes the dampened fold in the curved shape imparted to it by the belt and former, so that the circular form imparted to the collar becomes its normal shape. The inner and outer portions of the fold while the fold is damp and in a yielding condition readily yield to the inuence of the belt and former and assume their respective curves upon different radii, which are fixed and made normal by the heat of the former, which expels the moisture and renders the parts less yielding.

By arranging the parts of the machine, as shown, with the open clear space on one side of the former and the former projecting from the frame with a free and unobstructed end the operator can easily manipulate the collar while inserting it in the machine and during The ba'r can be IOO IIO

IZO

the operation of shaping and fixing the circular fold, as described.

As it may he found in sorne cases that the shaper-belt when adjusted for certain kinds of work will be so slack as to slip on the drivepulley 5, which is made of metal, I provide said drive-pulley with a clothing 44, which may be of any known material adapted to aord the necessary adhesion between the belt and pulley. This clothing may be of fabric similar to that of the belt.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a collar-shaper, the combination with a rotary cylindrical former, and means for positively driving the same; of a belt-driven pulley; means for positively drivingthe same a pair of loose guide-pulleys separated from each other a distance approximately the diameter of the former and located at one side of the former; and a Shaper-belt supported by and engaging such former and pulleys whereby the belt is positively driven by the former and drive-pulley and incloses half the periphery of the former on one side leaving an open passage on the opposite side extending from the former out between the guide-pulleys, and means for heating the former, substantially as described.

2. In a collar-Shaper, the combination with a rotary cylindrical former having a free end projecting to one side of its support, and a pair of similarly projecting guide pulleys separated from each other a distance approximately the diameter of the former and located on one side of the former; of a Shaper-belt supported by such former and pulleys wholly to one side of the supporting-frame, whereby either end of a collar can be guided by the hand of the operator while the other end is spirally inserted, or withdrawn from,between the free edges of the belt and former as the work of shaping progresses, and means for heating the former, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 1st day of March, 1900.

ARTHUR J. UNDERHILL.

Witnesses:

FRANK C. CUR'rIs, E. M. OREILLY. 

